Love, Scars, & Shooting Stars

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"You look a little green," Becca noted as soon as the two boys were out of earshot. "You sure you're ready for this?"

Julie slouched against the side of her car and stared up at the wispy white clouds that dotted the late afternoon sky. Had she ever been truly prepared to deal with Garrett Bradley?

"Nope," she admitted, trying to appear courageous. "But I'm doing it anyhow. At this point, I just want to get it over with."

"Good idea. Quick and over, like ripping off a Band-Aid."

"Yeah, but hopefully not as painful..."

Becca smiled sympathetically and leaned against the car, her arms crossed over her midsection. "And where does Cameron stand on all of this?"

Julie shrugged one shoulder, the inside of her nose beginning to tingle as hot tears burned behind her eyes.

"I haven't seen him since Monday, so he doesn't know," she said, jamming her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "And even if he did, I don't think he'd care one way or the other. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's been avoiding me."

"He's probably just busy, that's all," Becca volunteered. "Why would he be avoiding you?"

Julie sighed deeply. "I don't know, it's just—" she started, not sure how to explain it. "Something happened, at the wedding reception on Sunday... besides Garrett."

"What do you mean 'something'?" Becca asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I'm not sure," Julie shook her head. "The details are still pretty hazy, but right before Garrett showed up, Cameron had started to tell me something—"

"And?"

Julie scraped her teeth over her lower lip and took a deep breath. "And I think he was going to kiss me."

"But the other day you said that he didn't kiss you..."

"I said I didn't think he kissed me," Julie reminded her. "And I still don't think that he did, but... I think that he wanted to. It's just a funny feeling that I have, but something was about to happen. And then Garrett was there, closely followed by my mini-breakdown... and Cameron's been avoiding me ever since."

"Maybe he's just busy," Becca tried again, weaker this time.

"Maybe he's figured out that I'm a train wreck," Julie countered.

"Maybe you're just being paranoid."

Julie shot her friend a grateful smile, and then groaned as she peeled herself away from the car and hauled the door open, resigned to her obligation. Garrett was meeting her at the coffee shop next door to where the wedding reception had been held, and if she didn't leave right then, she was going to be late. She slid behind the wheel and started the engine, fastening her seatbelt as Becca closed the door from the outside. Julie rolled down the window.

"Thanks again for taking Finn tonight, Bec," she said. "Wish me luck."

"You won't need it, you'll be fine."

Julie smiled, took a deep breath, and shifted the car into reverse. As she backed slowly down the driveway, her friend called out to her.

"Hey, you never said," Becca prodded, jogging a few steps to stand beside the open window. "If Cameron was going to kiss you... did you want him to?"

Julie opened her mouth, but no words came out. Had she wanted him to kiss her? Her mind flashed back to the day of the reception, to the moments just prior to her Ex's appearance. She and Cameron had been dancing together, a slow song resonating from the speakers on either side of the deejay station. She faintly remembered the feeling of her head against his chest, his heartbeat steady in her ear, muffled beneath the weight of his sport coat. His hand rested strong and warm at the center of her back, and—

This isn't a slow song.

That's what he'd said, that's why she'd looked up at him. And his eyes, they were so vivid and blue, and—

"Well?" Becca broke in to her thoughts. "Did you? Did you want him to kiss you?"

Julie looked up, an increasingly familiar flutter tickling in the pit of her stomach.

"Yes," she said, a slow smile unfurling across her lips. "I think I did."